PINA

As the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leader’s Meeting concludes in the Cook Islands, the 2023 Leader’s Communique offers us great insight as to what leaders have decided are our key regional priorities, and the steps that need to be taken to achieve these priorities. Unfortunately, while we celebrate progress on several fronts including the historic language on a just transition...

  Samoa’s men and Fiji’s women have secured their tickets to the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at the Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship 2023 in Brisbane. Brian Lima’s Samoa will make their Olympic debut in France next year after they capped a supremely impressive weekend with a 24-0 defeat of Papua New Guinea in the men’s Olympic final on Sunday. Earlier at Ballymore...

Saudi Arabia has announced US$50 million to kick start the Pacific Resilience Facility This was confirmed Friday by Forum Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown after their meeting with Forum Dialogue partners one the sidelines of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Cook Islands. "The announcement by Saudi Arabia for US$50 million to start seeding the Pacific...

By Nic Maclellan in Rarotonga, Cook Islands Meeting in Cook Islands, Pacific Islands Forum leaders confirmed former President of Nauru Baron Waqa as the next Secretary General of the Forum Secretariat, taking over from Henry Puna in 2024. A major focus of the annual summit, hosted by Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, was the endorsement of a detailed implementation...

The Fifty-Second (52nd) Pacific Islands Forum was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands from 6 – 10 November 2023, and was attended by the Heads of State, Government, and Territories of Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Samoa, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. New...

Pacific Island Forum Leaders have reaffirmed the decision taken under the Suva Agreement with the appointment of former president of Nauru Baron Waqa as the next Secretary General. This was announced by Forum Chairman and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown at the end of the Leaders Retreat in Aitutaki. Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka defended Waqa’s appointment, in an effort...

Australia has offered refuge to citizens of Tuvalu because of the catastrophic impacts of climate change, in a landmark new pact. Tuvalu - a series of low-lying atolls in the Pacific - is among the nations most at risk from rising seas. It is home to 11,200 people and has repeatedly called for greater action to combat climate change. Australian Prime Minister...

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has expressed disappointment at Nauru’s President David Adeang failure to attend the Leaders retreat in Aitutaki today. Adeang walked out of the Forum Leaders Plenary Wednesday when the nomination of Baron Waqa as the next Secretary General was on the agenda for the Leaders deliberation. In an interview with journalists in Aitutaki on their way to...

The validity of the Suva Agreement has been thrown into question after Nauru's President David Adeang walked out of the Forum Leaders plenary in Cook Islands capital, Rarotonga Wednesday when incoming Secretary General's Baron Waqa nomination was put on the agenda for the Leaders discussion. The Suva Agreement is part of a pact to restore Pacific unity after it was...

Forum Secretary General Henry Puna has called on Pacific leaders to use their retreat today in Aitutaki to have honest and frank conversations on the range of issues facing the region today. The leaders will discuss climate change, gender, fisheries, nuclear issues, and trade among others. Leaders also expected to have a talanoa on the controversial issue of appointing the next...